The installation of wall-to-wall carpeting often involves stretching the carpet to obtain a smooth, flat installation. This generally entails installing tack strips around the perimeter of the area to be covered with carpet adjacent to the walls of the area. The carpet is then rolled out in the room, usually over some padding, rough cut and seamed. One side of the carpet is attached to the tack strip along one side of a room and then stretched to the other side where the carpet is attached to an opposing tack strip. This process removes any wrinkles or creases in the carpeting, resulting in a flat, safe and visually appealing carpet installation.
During the above-described method of installing carpets, the carpet installer uses various tools for stretching the carpet. The most common tool is the carpet kicker which is typically constructed from an elongated rod having a head with a plurality of downwardly extending carpet gripping members at one end, and at the other end a knee pad. The elongated rod typically includes an offset bend adjacent to the head to provide clearance for the knee pad so that the head will be flat on the floor for maximum engagement with the carpet surface and the elongated rod will be parallel with the floor to transmit to the head the maximum force of a blow to the knee pad.
Carpet installers using this device must get down on their hands and knees, use the carpet gripping head of the kicker to engage the carpet close to the edge to be stretched, and then kick the knee pad using a knee, thus stretching the carpet. The edge of the carpet is then pressed down onto the tack strip, which secures the stretched carpet in place. Any final trimming of the edge is accomplished and the edge is neatly tucked between the tack strip and the wall to give a finished appearance.
Carpet kickers are extremely popular because they are inexpensive devices and because they are particularly useful for stretching carpet in small areas, such as hallways and stairways. However, a carpet kicker has limited power for stretching carpet in larger areas. Additionally, carpet kickers can be difficult to use for extended periods of time, due to the awkward posture which the installer must assume to use the device and because the repeated blows, to the knee pad, required for a complete installation can injure the knee.
Other tools for stretching carpet which avoid the disadvantages of knee kickers are known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,787 to Kowlaczyk discloses a motorized power stretcher having an anchoring blade for anchoring the device between the tack strip and the wall, and a carpet engaging head which is driven by motor toward the anchoring blade to stretch the carpet. U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,651 to Chamberlain discloses a carpet stretcher having a spring powered carpet engaging head which is placed adjacent to the edge of the carpet to be stretched, a knee pad for use in anchoring the device (by having the operator place his knee against the pad to prevent backward movement of the device), a handle for compressing the spring which drives the carpet engaging head, and a trigger for releasing the compressed spring to drive the carpet engaging head forward, thus stretching the carpet.
Such dedicated power stretchers are well-known, yet they are expensive and beyond the means of some carpet installers. Further, they are generally too large for effective use in small rooms, closets, hallways and stairways. Thus, the possession and use of two dedicated tools, a power stretcher and a knee kicker, is not avoided.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,479 to Palachuck discloses an adapter which can be used with a standard carpet kicker for providing additional power, to enable the carpet kicker to be used for stretching carpet in larger areas. The adapter includes a socket into which the knee pad of the carpet kicker is placed, and an anchor which is placed against the wall that the carpeting is being stretched away from. When the carpet kicker head is engaged, and the anchor properly located, the housing containing the knee pad is elevated. The carpet is stretched when the operator steps on the housing, forcing the kicker head away from the anchor. However, this device, while it will provide additional power to the carpet kicker, will also be limited to small areas since it anchors against the wall that the carpet is being stretched away from. Extremely long anchor arms would be required to permit its use in larger areas, and that would significantly increase the cost and the difficulty in transporting the tool.
Accordingly, the need exists for an inexpensive and compact power adapter which can be attached to a standard carpet kicker.